In Heal the World, Michael says “make a little space to make a better place.” That’s not metaphorical; he literally meant that. There is a concept called “holding space” that translates to not just hope, but allowing. “Holding space” means being respectful of someone else’s path but holding an attitude of hopefulness and allowing for their soul’s growth and for change. You can’t know what the soul of another intends for that person or what lessons their soul is working out in this life. That is arrogance. Their soul path is between them and god.
None of us can walk the path of another. None of us sees the bigger picture from the god space and what that means in someone’s life. The soul is here to grow, to ascend, to become a shining reflection of its creator. The soul is the CEO of our experience. It’s our god connection. The soul is in charge of our lives whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not. Very few of us are connected intimately with that CEO, the soul. That connection is made through spiritual practice and intention. So, when life serves up something we don’t like or something that is painful, we rant and resist and sometimes we despair. The soul, the great inner teacher, would have us go down this path or on this mission, and we say “no thank you; I’d rather go this way.” (“Thy will be done?”) And that is what gets us into trouble. What we don’t realize is that life served it up because the soul engineered it.
The soul is not here for the personality. It is here for God. We often confuse the two—the soul is not the personality or the ego. The soul is the God spark, the inner fire. The personality is a whiner. The personality gets insulted. The personality resists and has tantrums and insists it is right. Personal righteous indignation is a massaging of the ego. There is nothing soulful about it. The soul is interested in the god-self, the Christ within, the infusion of soul, the amalgamation of god and man in the human being. It is striving for the union that the great mystics speak of. The soul does not judge; it does not divide. It loves dispassionately. It loves for the sake of love and loving.
When I wrote of soul and soulmates and the bonding of two souls many wrote to me and said “how can I forgive?” Or they insisted that person did not deserve the forgiveness. The problem with that viewpoint is that if you apply that rule to someone else, you must also apply it to yourself. The Universe is not created haphazardly; it has rules that govern existence. The rules are not subject to individual whims or insistences. The rules apply to everybody. So if you can’t hold space for forgiveness for someone else you are condemning yourself as well.
“But when someone is very, very wrong how to forgive?” I know how difficult that can be; I struggle with that one too. I know what a challenge that is. I am not saying it is easy. I am saying it is important to intend it. It is recommended for the growth of your own soul. On a soul level, nothing is wrong or bad or even commendable. It is all God working itself into existence by way of the human vehicle. God’s plan is not our plan. Oh, there are times when we say: “God, what in the world (or in hell) were you thinking?” Sometimes there is a great gnashing of teeth, a great wailing of our circumstances. The challenge comes from the soul, not from the personality. Sometimes the personality is not equipped to forgive because of its resistances. Judgment really is beneath us; it really is an exercise in “puny.” So how to forgive? Intend. That is all, just intend. There are things I would like to forgive but it’s hard because those are the places I feel most wounded. My heart is hardened to some things. But that is not my soul’s viewpoint. A hardened heart does not make the world a better place. Lending the world a softened heart, a heart full of love makes the whole world brighter.
Those of us who consider ourselves Christian, for example, will observe that the man who was the Christ was forgiving. He held everyone in the light of God, in the love of forgiveness. We say we want to live our lives like him but we just can’t forgive some things. Forgiveness is a grace. It is bestowed. All religious traditions speak of forgiveness. So what to do when we have trouble with that? Intend to bestow. Ask Grace to help you. Grace is an attribute of the divine. If God can forgive, we can’t? If Jesus can forgive, we can’t? What? We know better than God or Jesus? Sorry, saying “I’m only human” doesn’t cut it. That is an excuse. The rules are different for us than they are for god? So asking: “by the grace of God, please help me forgive, move me to forgiveness.” Intention moves the Universe. Really. You don’t have to do it. Grace will. Ask and intend. Grace does the work.
To continue to hold the feelings of resentment inside makes that environment toxic. It is crazy to hold hatred in your heart and think somehow that is going to harm the person who is the target of that hatred. The toxic feelings are inside the person who holds them. The toxic environment is inside the hater. The poison swims through the veins that hold it inside. Anything we give our attention to is amplified. Stoke the fires of hate and neither you nor the world gets better or brighter. The thing about a hardened heart is that the love can’t get in. The heart has to be soft, open and has to hold space for the miracle of love. What opens the heart faster than anything is for it to crack open. How does that happen? Heartbreak. Heartbreak in a person’s life takes them to the doorstep of the divine faster and more efficiently than anything else. Grief and regret and a realization of how hardened the heart was takes us to the threshold. Deep grief is an earthquake in the soul. Its purpose is to rearrange things. Sometimes it turns them upside down.
When it is obvious that someone is going through that kind of soul searching—hold space for them to learn the soul lesson and to change their heart and by changing their heart, change how they operate in the world. We see the world not as it is, but as who we are being. When our heart is breaking, that is the time when the human is vulnerable and so in need of unconditional love. To discover one has been a wretched human being and to genuinely see that, admit it to self and others, and to vow to change is a beautiful conversion to watch. It is also a service to the rest of humanity. When someone begins to love unconditionally, it makes the whole world brighter and makes it a better place.
New studies in quantum physics, chaos theory and non-local reality are discovering cutting edge information that appears to confirm what many religions and spiritual paths have been saying all along. One of those miraculous effects is called the butterfly effect. It means that the outcome can change significantly depending on a slight variation in the initial conditions. To illustrate, suppose an aircraft traveling across the world moves off course by say, two degrees. If that plane stays on that incorrect trajectory, just that slight two degree difference over the course of the flight will land that plane far from its original destination. Just an intention entered into the field (the quantum field of possibility) and a slightly altered outcome can change the world.
Lorenz in studying weather patterns accidentally came upon an interesting phenomenon—attractor fields. His discoveries led to the “Butterfly Effect” which shows that changing the initial condition just a little can result in monumental shifts at the end of that tragectory. His discovery of attractor fields shows that a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in the world can precipitate a tornado somewhere else. It’s a kind of trending phenomenon or a tipping point theory—that something set in motion grows and becomes stronger and with a greater impact. We are all connected. We are the world. Together we can make a difference. Where have you heard this before?
Those who are receiving Michael Messages are getting this information about how consciousness impacts the world and how with our collective consciousness we can make it a better place. That is what Michael meant by “Make a little space.” What he was saying is hold space for great change to happen via the collective effect of all of us intending to make the world better. He said it was all about Love, it was all for love. That “make a little space” also applies to human beings and human consciousness. Hold someone in contempt with hatred and you hold them in their negative attractor field—you put them in a prison that won’t allow for change. Instead, hold space (the intention of forgiveness by grace, and hope) that their heart will open. In your mind, don’t hold them (and yourself) in the shadow, hold them in the light. In the world of Lorenz butterflies, faith does move mountains. Invite them into the light. Hold hope and space for that. Get your own shadow out of the way (hold space for your own forgiveness, soul and light) and that makes a little space for the light to shine on everyone. Now keep shining.
7 Comments
What you are speaking of here Barbara, is something I feel like a newborn calf struggling to get it’s footing on. My legs are weak and don’t hold me up, but the urge to stand, at least, is there…
When I see a sweet, loving soul I adore being greviously harmed by those unconcious in some crucial way (otherwise they would not harm him), I find it such a difficult heartbreak to navigate. Heartbreak is a fork in the road. Do I allow anguish to push me down Rage Boulevard, or do I keep breathing and cling unyieldingly to my principles, hating the sin not the sinner, absolutely standing up and speaking out against the wrongdoing, take action to stop it, but without condemning the wrongdoer? In the heat of the moment, in the wrack of pain, my memory can impair to the point of forgetting I even have those principles. What do you do when a beloved is being truly brutalized in the most relentless and unjust fashion? How is forgiveness woven in to what you do DO about that? To everything there is a season, fight fire with fire, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. When someone wants to burn your Jewish uncle in an oven, or shoot your Tutsi sister, or beat up the next-door neighbor’s kid everyday on the playground, they must be stopped. I think what you are speaking of here is HOW to stop them. I for one really hope you continue discussion down this path and in more detail. I feel that Michael wants us to have this discussion. I really do.
Thank you Rev. B., I really needed this one today. I forget so often that Intent is the key. We get so caught up in absolutes, and so often forget to walk in the other guy’s shoes. This has been a tough week and I am so grateful for your guidance. Love and peace, Sue.
Thank you so much Rev. B., I have so much learning to do from this post. I will read it over again and reflect upon it. Yes, to intend is the key, to bestow our feelings on Grace. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Great post 🙂 I’m no expert on the topic, but from my personal experience I feel that people often confuse forgiveness with condoning bad behavior. To forgive does not mean patting them on the head for the pain or the wrong. But there’s a point when we’ve got to look at them for what they are: a learning soul, a part of God just like us – a human being who may have royally screwed up (as you probably have at some point – recently or long ago). Maybe they’re repentent, maybe they’re not. Maybe they will be one day. Who knows. But you can be pretty sure that when they perpetrated this hurt they were simply acting out of who they were at the time … their emotions, environment, experience, their own immaturity, fears, past hurts and possibly warped view of the world, just as YOU are acting out your own pile of that stuff right now. What we do usually seems like the right thing to do at the time (from our perspective, at least)! Years from now you may look back at today and think, “What the heck was I thinking?!”
In whatever case, the unforgiven person is not carrying our anger around in their heart like a ball of shadowy goo. WE are. WE’RE the ones continuing to be hurt by the anger we’ve allowed to grow inside. And it is our choice whether we want to live with a glob of nasty shadow goo in our hearts, coloring all our experiences, being passed around to the world, or whether we intend to at least try to radiate some LIGHT instead. Forgiving can start with, “What you did hurt. It was wrong, from my perspective. Really wrong. However, I’m not going to spend the rest of eternity putting my energy into hating you and thus hurting myself and those around me. I am taking the angry ball of goo out of my heart, setting it down and walking away. May it refill with light! If you don’t understand now, I pray you will someday, and that you’ll afford me the same benefit of the doubt when I mess up. May we both be blessed with love, compassion and understanding.” That’s a start, at least.
This doesn’t mean ignoring future negative actions or being apathetic to atrocities, no. But we can fight with either anger or with love – fight with shadowy goo in our hearts or attempt to illuminate the darkness with light. “Make LOVE your weapon…” Maybe it’s easier said than done, but that’s why we’re all here … to keep learning. ♥ ♥ ♥
I find your article very interesting and very insightful; I do want to add a few things that I have learn along the way: There are people who hurt others and go through life unaware of the destruction they cause others. They are oblivious to the power of their impact and if you happen to confront them they almost always push it to aside and would rather not admit it or just forget altogether that it happened. I remember the lesson Jesus taught in the bible about turning the other cheek. In my experience, it is wise to put distance and allow time to teach you that you are an expression of God and your soul is worthy of respect and honor.
Turning the other cheek before either of you have had the chance to make changes as far has the abuser who learns that its okay to continue and you want to impress God by allowing your soul to endure what God did not intend for you in the first place is in my experience not a sign that a person has evolved…quite the opposite. It’s okay to no longer want the individual in your life after you have forgiven yourself for allowing them to stay in your space longer than you should have. That is a sure sign that you are honoring yourself, God and the other person believe it or not. That is what makes Forgiveness even possible. Forgiveness should not be confused with sugar coating what the other person did. People who tell you they are sorry while on their death bed have done a major disservice to you because you now have to carry their burden. It is a disservice to their CREATOR because they have basically checked out before they have done their soul work. God may say “I expected better from you.”
“On a soul level, nothing is wrong or bad or even commendable. It is all God working itself into existence by way of the human vehicle. God’s plan is not our plan.” Barbara, I am trying to understand in depth what you exactly mean here. Does is apply to the worst atrocities, like the Holocaust ? Usually, when we believe in the Divine, we also believe in Evil. So, from that point of view, Hitler’s acts or a serial killer’s acts should be considered an expression of evil… Do you mean that even the perpetrators of such acts are allowing God to express Himself into existence ? Are they too part of God’s plan? If nothing’s wrong or bad in a soul level, does it mean that evil does not exist? Thank you, Barbara, for guiding us on the path of spiritual research. Namaste, Nicole
Nicole, that is the quintessential question, isn’t it? There are immutable laws that govern all of existence. When we are in alignment with those laws our lives express divine qualities and when we are not in alignment, misery is the result. The Taoists explain it well when they say “that is being in the Tao.” There is a divine blueprint for everyone and living from that expresses our bright shadow while aligning with the ego gets us in trouble. It is not fate but choice. There is a destiny impulse that arises from the divine blueprint but we were given free will to choose the path. Those who serve the ego play out a drama on the earth and can conscript many into their drama (as in the case of Hitler.) Had Hitler served his god-self history would read much differently. From the highter perspective everything is in service to the evolution of man. Sometimes something looks negative yet within it is something that serves the evolution of man toward God. We are all ultimately going home. My understanding is that the soul arrives with a contract or mission and that can involve a sacrifice of the body or life but it serves the greater whole. The soul is invested in an evolution also and things that may look negative within earth’s experience are actually advancing the soul. The mission of the human is to become a vehicle for the expression of God or the god-man. God doesn’t “allow” evil, humans choose it sometimes when they serve the ego. Some teachers have said that the only reason we have evil is because we believe in evil. I struggle with that one. There is shadow and bright shadow- our choice. It all comes from the creator so some say evil is part of the plan because nothing is separate from God for God is omnipresent. The whole evil thing used to confound me to and still does in some ways. What helped to make it clearer was reading Rabbi Kushner’s “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” Let me know what you discover. ~Rev. B.